'Ugly' Auckland keep the Log o' Wood
Sat, 23 Aug 2008 09:43
Auckland retained the Ranfurly Shield with a comfortable 25-3 win over Manawatu at the Eden Park construction site on Saturday, also putting their Air New Zealand Cup defence back on track.
The fourth defence of the Shield in 2008 was not pretty, or by any means totally convincing, but the commitment and effort were way up on last week's disappointment in the 3-34 loss to Canterbury in Christchurch.
The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood and still the most prestigious trophy in New Zealand rugby, was retained with the help of Auckland's All Black brothers - as John Afoa, Keven Mealamu and Isaia Toeava made a huge difference to the team's confidence.
Also returning were key players Taniela Moa and Benson Stanley, which meant Manawatu were going to have to play out of their skins to win.
But they were disappointing, particularly on attack, and never looked likely to take the Shield back to Palmerston North.
Auckland led 13-3 at the half-time break, thanks to a try to Moa, after some smart build-up work by lock Chris Lowrey.
However, it was the second half performance that would have pleased the coaching staff, as the team got stuck into their work with more accuracy and played the challengers out of the game.
The most contentious moment in the game came in the 48th minute - when TMO Ben Skeen advised referee Keith Brown to award Auckland a penalty try, following an in-goal challenge for the ball involving Ben Atiga and Manawatu's Lote Raikabula.
Raikabula thwarted Atiga's despairing dive by batting the ball over the dead ball line.
Skeen ruled that as foul play in goal when a try may have been scored - resulting in the penalty try.
As coach Pat Lam wryly said after the game "this is not Rugby League".
The conversion put Auckland into an unassailable 20-3 lead and to finish off the match they scored a superb try to captain Atiga, with backs and forwards combining in a classy movement. The final pass in a heavy tackle by Benson Stanley was outstanding.
The performance of Isaia Toeava at first five-eighth (No.10) was a game highlight. The talented and versatile player kicked superbly, took the right options and caused the Manawatu inside defence plenty of problems.
It will be interesting to watch his progress at flyhalf if he gets more game time there.
The scorers:
For Auckland:
Tries: Moa, Atiga, penalty try
Cons: Munro 2
Pens: Munro 2
For Manawatu:
Pen: Cruden
Yellow cards: Grant Poulson (Manawatu, 30 - cynical fouls), Lachie Munro (Auckland, 60 - professional foul)
Teams:
Auckland: 15 Lachie Munro, 14 Watisoni Lotawa, 13 Ben Atiga (captain), 12 Benson Stanley, 11 David Smith, 10 Isaia
Toeava, 9 Taniela Moa, 8 Peter Saili, 7 Daniel Braid, 6 Kurtis Haiu, 5 Jay Williams, 4 Chris Lowrey, 3 John Afoa, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Paea Fa'anunu.
Replacements: 16 Tom McCartney, 17 Tevita Mailau, 18 Dean Budd, 19 Onosa'i Auva'a, 20 Grayson Hart, 21 Jamie Helleur, 22 Winston Stanley.
Manawatu: 15 Francisco Bosch, 14 Lote Raikabula, 13 Johnny Leota, 12 Francis Bryant, 11 Andre Taylor, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Aaron Goode, 8 Nick Crosswell, 7 Josh Bradnock, 6 Hamish Gosling, 5 Paul Rodgers, 4 Hayden Triggs, 3 David Te Moana, 2 Rob Foreman, 1 Grant Poulson.
Replacements: 16 Sean O'Connor, 17 Talau Hala, 18 James Goode, 19 Doug Tietjens/Adaam Ross, 20 Aaron Smith, 21 Aaron James, 22 Kurt Baker.
Referee: Keith Brown
Touch judges: Chris Pollock, Josh Noonan
TMO: Ben Skeen
